﻿Equality Statement﻿

﻿1. POLICY STATEMENTWe welcome people from all sections of the community. In all aspects of College life we aim to provide and promote equal opportunities for potential and existing students/trainees and staff.

We will pursue policies and establish practices, which are non-discriminatory. We will seek to provide fair treatment for potential and existing staff and students/trainees and to value diversity in human experience and circumstances. We aim to establish a constructive and positive working environment for all staff and students/trainees. In line with the Equality Act, 2010, we strive to meet the following three aims:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act.

• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

We will implement this policy in respect of:

STUDENTSCollege publicity and recruitmentCurriculum content and deliveryProvision of facilities and servicesStudent Support

STAFFCollege publicity and recruitmentContinuous Professional DevelopmentApplication of Human Resources procedures

GOVERNORSGovernor SearchGovernor InductionGovernor DevelopmentMonitoring and reporting of Equality & Diversity issues in the College

CONTRACTORS & WORK PLACEMENT PROVIDERS

Compliance with this policy

Policy implementation will be overseen by the Equality & Diversity Team. As part of the Equality Act, an equality duty will be published on the College Internet page to demonstrate the College’s responsibilities and commitment to the General and Specific duties. Equality objectives will be included as part of this process.﻿

﻿Any employee or student who believes that she/he is being discriminated against, victimised or harassed should raise the issue through the appropriate Staff or Student Grievance Procedure, or the Code on Personal Harassment. Staff should seek advice from HumanResources. Students/trainees and visitors should seek advice from Student Services.

‘Protected characteristics’ relate to age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, sex, sexual orientation, and pregnancy and maternity. Marriage or civil partnership status relates to the first aim of the duty but aims two and three (advancing equality and fostering good relations) do not apply. Fostering good relations includes tackling prejudice and promoting understanding between different groups whilst having due regard for advancing equality involves:

• Removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics. TAMESIDE COLLEGE • Taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people

• Encouraging people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.

A key amendment to the duty makes it clear that to ‘advance’ also means that the college must consider, among other things, that meeting the needs of disabled people may involve taking steps to take account of people’s impairments, even where that involves treating disabled people more favourably than other people.

This policy applies to all staff, students/trainees and visitors and guidelines and standards are available to back up this policy. Contractors are required to indicate that they subscribe to this policy or have to produce an equivalent policy of their own. Related information is contained in:

The Equality Act covers the same groups that were protected by existing equality legislation – age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity. These are called ‘protected characteristics’.

3. LOCATION AND ACCESS TO THE POLICYThe Equality and Diversity Policy and supporting policies and other documents are available in the Quality Assurance Manual via Learning Box on the College Network.

Based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, Tameside College is a further education college that offers a wide range of courses including Full-Time, Part-Time, Apprenticeships and University Level. We aim to give all our students an exceptional experience.